Hawaii Deed Search: Land Court, the Regular System and the Bureau of Conveyances
Hawaii has no county recorders. One state bureau records deeds for all five counties in two systems, Regular and Land Court. How a Hawaii deed search works.
Quick answer
Hawaii has no county recorders. The State Bureau of Conveyances in Honolulu records deeds and mortgages for all five counties, in two systems: the Regular System, where priority follows the order of recording, and the Land Court system, where title is held by a certificate. A deed search must check the system the parcel belongs to, and some parcels are in both.
What is the Bureau of Conveyances?
In most states a buyer searches the county where the house stands: the county recorder, register of deeds or clerk. Hawaii works differently. There is no recording office in Hilo, Wailuku or Lihue. The Bureau of Conveyances in Honolulu records the documents for the island of Hawaii, Honolulu County on Oahu, Maui County, Kauai County and Kalawao County. The Bureau describes Hawaii as one of two states with a single statewide recording system.
The Bureau says it examines, records, indexes and digitizes more than 344,000 Regular System and Land Court documents and maps each year.
The counties still matter, but for a different job. Each county keeps the real property tax roll, the owner of record for tax bills and the assessment. That is why a Hawaii title search always reads two sources: the county for the tax record and the Bureau for what has been recorded against the land.
Definition
Bureau of Conveyances — The Hawaii state office, part of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, that examines, records and indexes the documents that affect title to real property, for the whole state.
What is the difference between the Regular System and Land Court?
Every Hawaii parcel is in one of two recording systems, and a few are in both. The two answer the question of who owns the land in different ways, so the search method differs.
| Point of comparison | Regular System | Land Court system |
|---|---|---|
| How title is shown | By the chain of recorded deeds | By a Certificate of Title issued in the owner's name |
| What decides priority | The order in which documents are recorded | The order in which documents are filed and noted on the certificate |
| Does the Bureau check the document? | It accepts a document that meets the statutory form; it does not decide who owns the land | It rejects documents that do not meet the strict requirements for registered land |
| Where mortgages and liens appear | Recorded and indexed by name and tax map key | Noted on the Certificate of Title; a document not noted does not affect the land |
| Adverse possession | Possible in principle | Not possible against registered land |
| Statute | Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 502 | Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 501 |
What is a dual system property?
Some parcels are Land Court land that also carry documents in the Regular System. A deed or a mortgage on such a parcel has to be recorded in the Regular System and filed in the Land Court system. If the Land Court filing is skipped, the Land Court side of the parcel stays unencumbered, which is a mistake a lender or buyer from outside Hawaii can make.
For a searcher the lesson is simple. A search that reads only the Regular System index will miss Land Court parcels, and the reverse is true as well. A complete search covers both systems for the same tax map key. The Land Court certificate is then the document that shows the current registered owner and the encumbrances noted on it.
How does a tax map key identify a Hawaii parcel?
Hawaii parcels are identified by tax map key (TMK), not by the street address. A TMK has five parts: the division, the zone, the section, the plat and the parcel. It is often written with dashes, for example 3-6-8-024-028, or with a colon before the parcel number.
The first digit is the taxation division, and it tells you the island before you read a word of the address: 1 is Oahu (Honolulu County), 2 is Maui and Molokai (Maui County, and Kalawao County on Molokai), 3 is the island of Hawaii, and 4 is Kauai. A TMK that starts with 3 belongs to the Big Island, and one that starts with 4 is on Kauai.
The TMK is also how the Bureau's index ties a document to a parcel. Documents are indexed by the parties' names and by the TMK, so a search by TMK lists what has been indexed to that parcel, and a search by the owner's name adds loans and liens that were indexed only to a name.
How do you search a Hawaii deed?
Find the tax map key
Start from the address and find the parcel's TMK on the county's real property tax record or the state parcel map. Check the first digit against the island.
Read the owner on the tax roll
The county real property tax office lists the owner who is billed. It is a tax record, not proof of title, so treat it as the name to look up in the Bureau's index.
Search the Bureau's index in both systems
Search by TMK in the Regular System and the Land Court system. The documents are listed with their type, date, parties and document number. The owner of record is the grantee of the latest document that transferred title.
Search the owner's name as grantor
A mortgage or lien is not always indexed to the TMK. Searching the current owner's name as grantor finds those documents. A name search can also return a different person with the same name, so check each match.
Match every mortgage to its release
A mortgage is still a lien of record until a release is recorded or noted. Look for the release by document number or by the reference the Bureau lists on the entry.
Check condominium units separately
A condominium unit may carry its own unit number on top of the building's parcel. Search the fee parcel, then confirm what is recorded against the unit.
What does a Hawaii deed search miss?
The Bureau's online index gives the entries: parties, dates, document types and references. It does not give a lawyer's view of what the documents mean. Document images are a separate step and carry a fee, and a deed that is in the index can still contain a defect that only reading it will show.
Property taxes are held by the county, not the Bureau, so unpaid real property tax does not appear in the Bureau's index. Court judgments and tax liens are recorded in the Regular System, but a judgment against the owner of Land Court property also has to be noted on the certificate to reach that land. And a search is a look at public records, not title insurance or an attorney's opinion of title.
Frequently asked questions
- Is there a county recorder of deeds in Hawaii?
- No. Hawaii has a single statewide recording system run by the Bureau of Conveyances in Honolulu. A deed for a Maui, Kauai or Big Island parcel is recorded in Honolulu, not in the county where the land lies.
- Where is the Bureau of Conveyances?
- In the Kalanimoku Building at 1151 Punchbowl Street in Honolulu. It is part of the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources and is closed on state holidays.
- What is Land Court land in Hawaii?
- It is land registered under a Torrens-style system. The state issues a Certificate of Title in the owner's name that describes the land and the encumbrances on it. Documents that affect the land must be noted on the certificate, and title does not pass until a conveyance is noted.
- How do I know whether my Hawaii property is Regular System or Land Court?
- Search the tax map key in both systems. A parcel with a Land Court certificate will show Land Court entries, and a dual system parcel will show entries in both. A title company or Hawaii attorney can confirm the status of a specific parcel.
- What does the first digit of a Hawaii tax map key mean?
- It is the taxation division. 1 is Oahu, 2 is Maui and Molokai, 3 is the island of Hawaii and 4 is Kauai.
- Does a Hawaii title search show unpaid property taxes?
- Not from the Bureau of Conveyances. Real property tax is billed and collected by the county, so the tax record has to be checked separately. A HeritageDeed report does not search delinquent property taxes.
Legal references
Statutes and rules cited in this article.
- 1Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 501 (Land Court)
- 2Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 502 (Recording of instruments)
Cite this guide
APA
HeritageDeed. (2026, November 10). Hawaii Deed Search: Land Court, the Regular System and the Bureau of Conveyances. https://heritagedeed.com/blog/hawaii-bureau-of-conveyances-deed-search
MLA
“Hawaii Deed Search: Land Court, the Regular System and the Bureau of Conveyances.” HeritageDeed, November 10, 2026, heritagedeed.com/blog/hawaii-bureau-of-conveyances-deed-search.
Link (HTML)
<a href="https://heritagedeed.com/blog/hawaii-bureau-of-conveyances-deed-search">Hawaii Deed Search: Land Court, the Regular System and the Bureau of Conveyances</a> (HeritageDeed)HeritageDeed provides public-record search reports only. Reports do not constitute title insurance, an attorney opinion of title, or a title insurance commitment.
